This 'n That in pictures...

Good morning from the Atlantic Ocean.... (click to enlarge)
















Some of our kids love to be photographed.....




Others....not so much...




Good night all...

Long Weekend

May 24th long weekend is the unofficial (or is that official? LOL) start of summer. After the long winter, everyone is more than ready....and this year was no exception!

Tyler and Brittney went to Spring Forth, which is a Christian teen camp held in Musgravetown, NL. Last year was their first year...they had a blast and have been talking about it ever since. Needless to say....they could hardly wait to get back.

That left Jake, Larry and I....and Jake was quite excited about being the only child for the whole weekend. We decided to head back to Gander again this weekend in order to visit with our friends from Glovertown and other friends who were camping in Terra Nova Park.

The weather mostly co-operated with sunshine and warmth (well all except for Monday morning...it was chilly at only 1*C....quite the contrast from Sunday at 22*C and sun)

By all accounts....it was a great weekend.

Tyler and Brittney had a fabulous time once again.

We enjoyed spending time with friends, sharing some laughs, discussing life here in Newfoundland touring around parts of our (almost) new province that we had not yet seen, enjoying the great outdoors, clean air and overall just relaxing.

Yes...just what the Dr. ordered (literally)....now ... back to reality.

Homeschool Conference on The Rock

This past weekend was CHENL's annual Homeschool Conference on The Rock.....and was held in Gander this year.

What an excellent conference it was! Congrats and Thanks to all of the organizers who put it all together.

We always enjoy going to Homeschool Conferences....it's a time to meet other homeschoolers, share ideas, hear speakers and come away feeling recharged and refreshed.

This one was no exception....and we all had a wonderful time! It's interesting to see how each one is organized...the differences and similarities. I'm always impressed with the creativity put forth in working around any unique challenges that each provincial area faces. It's interesting how (what may be perceived as) an area's weakness can actually be a great strength and vice versa.

There was something for everyone this weekend...child care and program for the little ones (which Brittney was even able to help out with a bit...looking after young children is something she absolutely loves to do!!), a teen room (full of lots of interesting things for teens to do...and other teens to hang out with). One of the speakers prepared a session geared especially to the teens.

For us adults, there were speakers, vendors with various curricula/books for us to look through, time to meet and chat with other homeschoolers from across our province, time for questions/conversations with the speakers...food (ohhh....and Larry's favourite...pizza for lunch).... lots of free draws/giveaways (and I actually even won one!!)....the list goes on....

Tyler opted to stay home....first time alone overnight and all. He was fine...mom was worried...but hey...that goes with the territory *and* it's a mom's right to worry....isn't it ;)

The only down side to the whole weekend.....was the snow we woke up to on Friday morning. Not what one wants to see in May....but especially not when travel is involved. Thankfully, it wasn't long-lasting (and didn't even stick to the ground)....but no way of knowing how bad it will get while it's happening. (I always fear the worst.) Not far into our journey though, the roads were dry, there was no evidence of any snow....and the sun was even shining.

Another concern for us, was the moose that are an ongoing driving hazard in this province. They wander out on to 'the highway' (NL's version of the 401, we call it ;)). It's difficult dealing with them at any time, but especially at night...the highway is not lit and when one is clicking along at 100 kms/hr....well...that can make for a bad combination. Thankfully, we were able to travel mostly in the light...and only saw one moose along the way (and even then, he was way off to the side).

My other concern was my CFS/Fibro. I was mostly concerned with the post exertional malaise/crash I could have experienced (and quite often do)....but took as many steps as I could think of to ward this off. 'Banking' my energy during the week before (as much as I could) as well as diligently doing/taking everything the homeopath had advised. I'm pleased to announce (for the most part) it worked!!! Saturday morning I was a bit concerned as I was quite achy and that all too familiar burning muscles...but I kept on with the daily regimen of vitamins, supplements etc. as recommended....and it seem to work! Today is Tuesday...and still no crash...so I'm thinkin' I made it through!!! Yahoo!!! *Doing the Happy Dance here*

So...ya....in summary it was a great weekend. Made some new friends, reconnected with old ones (not that they were old...just that we knew them from before lol ) and had a great weekend to boot!

Thanks again to all the organizers...Job well done!

CFS Sufferers...need your help

I am looking for articles and/or websites that best describe/explain Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (because as we all know, the name certainly does not reflect the reality of the illness). Something that lists all of the symptoms (well as many as possible, I know it's impossible to list all of them) and the on going daily struggles this disease causes. I'm looking for articles/websites that are complete and to the point that would be useful to help me explain this to others (because I seem to be failing miserably and seemingly end up leaving people more confused than ever.)

If you could leave a link to your favourite in a comment to me....it would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your help!